Attachment for ironing boards



June if 1941. R W. RUEHNG ET AL 2,247,1?7

ATTACHMENT FOR IRONING BOARDS Filed June 13, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jhme24, W41. R. w. RUEPING ETAL ATTACHMENT FOR IRONING BOARDS Filed June 13,1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 24, 1941 AT'EACHWEEN'E FOR IRGNINGBGARDS r -Robcrt W. Rueping and Anna Brkueping,

i De Pere, 'Wis.

"Application June 13, Him Serial No; 349,377

3 Claims. i (61. 38-111) This invention relates to a collapsible articleholder adapted to be mounted on an ironing board for supporting articlesbeing ironed to prevent articles such as sheets and tablecloths fromdragging on the floor and becoming soiled, while a portion thereof isbeing ironed.

Still another aim of the invention is to provide a holder having troughsor cradles of flexible material disposed at the sides of the ironingboard which may be used for holding a quantity of small articles such ashandk-erchiefs, napkins, etc, in a position convenient to the ironer.

Still a further aim of the invention is .to provide an attachment of thecharacter heretofore described with two flexible receptacles adapted tobe disposed along opposite sides of an ironing board and capable ofbeing individually collapsed beneath the board, when not in use, and toprovide a device which when retracted will be disposed compactly beneaththe ironing board and which may be left thereon when the ironing boardis stored away or used for ironing shirts,

skirts or other similar articles which are passed over the narrow end ofthe board.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will herein-after becomemore fully apparent from the following description of the drawings,which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, and wherein-Figure 1 is a top plan view showing the attachment applied to aconventional ironing board and disposed in an extended position,

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the same,

Figure 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken substantiallyalong the plane of the line 3-3 of Figure 1,

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary bottom plan view showing one end ofthe attachment connected to an end of the ironing board,

Figure 5 is an enlarged top plan view, partly in section, showing theopposite end of the attachment applied to the ironing board, with aportion of the ironing board shown broken away,

Figure 6 is a fragmentary plan view partly in section showing one of theflexible containers attached to one of the supporting brackets,

Figure '7 is a horizontal sectional view, on an enlarged scale, takensubstantially along the plane of the line l'l of Figure 3, and similarto Figure 6, showing an end of one of the receptacles attached to theother supporting bracket,

Figure 8 is a'perspective View of one of the supporting brackets of theattachment, and

Figure 9 is a perspective view of the other supporting bracket.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, wherein like referencecharacters design-ate like or corresponding parts throughout thedifferent views, iii designates generally a conventional ironing boardon which the article holding attachment, designated generally H, andcomprising the invention, is mounted.

' The holding attachment I=l includes a bracket i2 which is preferablyformed of sheet metal and from one elongated strip thereof which isfolded to. form a pair of tubular or barrel portions It, a substantiallyperpendicular wall It and a resilient flange 15, which is disposedsubstantially at a right angle to the wall it and above andsubstantially parallel to a portion l6 which forms the upper part of thetubular portions it. The parts of the bracket 12, including the barrelportions i3, wall hi and flange [5, are held in their relative positionsby means of rivets or other fa-stenings H which extend through the twoplies of the wall It adjacent its ends. Wall I4 is provided with anopening I8 adjacent each of its ends, for a purpose which willhereinafter bevdescribed.

Another bracket, designated generally i9, is

, likewise preferably adapted to be formed from a single strip of sheetmetal which is bent and rolled to form at the bottom thereof a pair oftubular or barrel portions 20 and at the top thereof a tubular portion21 which is disposed above and between the tubular portions 20 and whichis connected thereto by means of the wall 22, which is formed of aplurality of plies including the ends of the strip, of which the bracketIQ is formed, and corresponding intermediate portions thereof, whichplies are connected and secured together by means of rivets or othersimilar fastenings 23. The wall 22 is also provided with an opening 24adjacent each end thereof.

, the enlarged end of the ironing board H), as best illustrated inFigure 1, with the flange I5 thereof disposed on the upperside of theboard and the portion lt'disposed on the underside thereof. The flangeIt being resiliently disposed relatively to the portion 16 providesmeans therewith for yieldably clamping the bracket I2 to the board I 0.The bracket [9 is adapted to be disposed beneath and transversely of theboard lfl, adjacent its narrow end 21 with the bills 28 of the hooks 2tengaging the side edges of the ironing board l0. With the hooks 26 thuspositioned, as best illustrated in Figure 3, the spring is under tensionto securely hold the bills of the hooks 28 in piercing engagement withthe board Hi to securely mount the bracket l9 beneath the board.

An extension, supporting arm 29 is mounted in each of the barrelportions l3 and 23. The supporting arms 29, carried by each of thebrackets l2 and I9, are extensible in opposite directions relatively toeach other and when in extended positions, as best illustrated in Figurel, the outer ends of the arms 29 project outwardly from the longitudinalside edges of the ironing board ill. Each of the arms 29, adjacent itsfree end, is provided with a transverse opening 33 to receive a tie 35..The attachment H also includes a pair of elongated trough or cradleshaped receptacles 32, preferably formed of fabric, which are providedat their end walls adjacent their side edges grommets or eyelets 33. Theties SI of the complementary arms 29, which are disposed on the sameside of the ironing board It, are attached to the grommets 33 which aredisposed adjacent to the outer edges of the receptacles 32, asillustrated in Figure 1. Ties 3d extend through the openings I3 and 24and through the other grommets 33 to thereby connect the receptacles 32,adjacent their inner edges, to the ends of the brackets l2 and i9 sothat When the arms 28 are extended the receptacles 32 will be heldthereby in extended open positions.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that the receptacles 32 may beused for holding portions of tablecloths, sheets and the like, notshown, while other portions of said articles are being ironed on theboard it to thereby prevent any portions of said articles from draggingon the floor and becoming soiled. The receptacles 32 are also adapted tobe used for holding quantities of small articles such as napkins andhandkerchiefs to be ironed, to place such articles in a convenientposition to the ironer. The receptacles 32 may be collapsed to aposition beneath the ironing board ll] by moving the arms 29 inwardly toretracted positions within the tubular portions it and 2t and when saidarms are thus retracted the receptacles 32 will be disposed, incollapsed positions, beneath the ironing board it and adjacent to itsside edges. As each of the arms 29 is independently movable, either ofthe receptacles 32 may be extended or collapsed in dependently of theother. The ties St in addition to supporting the inner portions of thereceptacles 32 also limit the outward movement of the arms 2% to preventthem from being moved past the positions, as seen in Figures 4 and 5. Itwill be obvious that the attachment i! will fit compactly beneath theironing board it) and as it does not extend to beneath the narrow endZl, this end may be used for ironing shirts and skirts and other sucharticles which have to be slipped over the end 2?, without removing theattachment H from the ironing board. When the attachment l! is retractedthe board It may be readily stored with the attachment applied theretoas very little additional space will be required to accommodate theattachment. To remove the attachment H, it is only necessary to pulloutwardly on the hooks 26 to release the bracket is from the board Itafter which the bracket l2 may be readily removed from the end of theboard on which it is mounted. Due to the means by which the bracket i9is attached to the ironing board it, it is possible to adjustablyposition the brackets 52 and I9 relatively to each other so that thereceptacles 32 will be extended lengthwise to prevent them from saggingwhen in open positions.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously beresorted to as only a preferred embodiment of the irr'ention has beendisclosed.

We claim as our invention:

1. An attachment for ironing boards comprising brackets connected to theunderside of an ironing board and transversely thereof, an arm slidablymounted in each of said brackets, said arms being extensible relativelyto the brackets and laterally of the ironing board, a receptacle offlexible material attached to complementary ends of said arms andsupported thereby at one side of the ironing board, one of said bracketsincluding an elongated tube disposed beneath the ironing board,intermediate of its ends, a contractile coil spring disposed in saidtube, and a pair of hooks having their shank ends extending into theends of said tube and connected to the ends of said spring, the oppositeends of said hooks being disposed on the outer side of the tube andbeing extensible relatively to one another for engaging the longitudinaledges of the ironing board for detachably mounting said last mentionedbracket on the underside thereof.

2. An attachment for ironing boards comprising a pair of spacedbrackets, means forming a part of said brackets, and adapted to beyieldably and detachably connected to spaced portions of an ironingboard for removably mounting the brackets therebeneath, each of saidbrackets including a tube disposed on the underside of the ironing boardand transversely thereof, an arm slidably mounted in each of said tubes,the arms being extensible and being disposed beyond a side edge or" theironing board, when in extended positions, and a trough shaped fabricreceptacle connected at its ends to the outer ends of the arms andsupported thereby in an extended position at one side of the ironingboard, said receptacle being collapsible beneath the ironing board whenthe arms are retracted into the brackets, and said receptacle beingconnected at its ends to said brackets.

3. A bracket for mounting a supporting arm of a clothes hammock of thetype which is adapted to be disposed beyond one side edge of an ironingboard, comprising a bracket disposed beneath the ironing boardintermediate of its ends and transversely thereof, said bracket havingtubular portions opening outwardly of its ends, a contractile coilspring carried by one of said tubular portions, hooks connected to theends of said spring and projecting from the ends of the tubular portion,for releasably engaging the side edges or the ironing board foradjustably and detachably connecting said bracket thereto, and saidother tubular portion being provided for slidably mounting thesupporting arm.

ROBERT W. RUEPING. ANNA B. RUEPING.

